 1 In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came. He and all his army came against Jerusalem and pitched against it, and built a siege mound all around it. 2 The city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, 3 on the ninth of the fourth month, when famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 The city was broken up, and by night all the men of war went by the way of the gate between two walls that is by the king's garden. And the Chaldeans were against the city all round. And the king went the way toward the plain. 5 The army of the Chaldees pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army were scattered from him. 6 They brought the king to the king of Babylon, to Riblah and gave judgment on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains and carried him to Babylon. 8 In the fifth month on the seventh of the month in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. And every great one's house he burned with fire. 10 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the executioners broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around. 11 The rest of the people who were left in the city, and the fugitives who fell away to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude, the chief of the executioners carried away. 12 But the chief of the executioners left a few of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. 13 The bronze pillars in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried the bronze from them to Babylon. 14 The pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they also took away. 15 The chief of the executioners took away the fire pans, and the bowls, that were all of gold, and all of silver; 16 also the two pillars, the one sea, and the bases that Solomon had made for the house of the Lord. The bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was bronze. And the height of the capital was three cubits. And the grating and the pomegranates on the capital all around were all of bronze. And the second pillar had grating like these. 18 The chief of the executioners took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19 He took out of the city a certain eunuch who was appointed over the men of war, and five men of those who were in the king's presence, who were found in the city, and the chief scribe of the army who called up the people of the land together, and 60 men of the people of the land found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners took these and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 21 The king of Babylon struck them and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he exiled Judah from its land. 22 He made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had left. 23 All the commanders of the army and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor. They came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 24 Gedaliah swore to them and to their men and said to them, Do not fear to be servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon and it will be well with you. 25 In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama of the family of the kingdom and ten men with him came and struck Gedaliah and he died and also the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26 All the people, both small and great, and the commanders of the armies, arose and came to Egypt. For they were afraid of the Chaldeans. 27 In the thirty seventh year of the captivity of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty seventh of the month, King Evilmerodach of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of King Jehoiachin of Judah out of prison. 28 He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 He changed his prison clothes. And he always ate bread before him all the days of his life. 30 His allowance was a regular allowance given him from the king, a daily ration for every day, all the days of his life.
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